Business Car Leasing Solutions

‘Driving for work’ event: How to Avoid the Road to Ruin

Sixt Leasing, in association with Nissan, will host their first breakfast briefing of 2018 at The Pavilion Building, Leopardstown Racecourse, Co Dublin.

Paul Fisher of the Byrne Wallace Law Firm, and Gardaí Superintendent, Con O'Donoghue, are among the expert speakers who will discuss the legalities of driving for work, and the implications of managing employee-owned vehicles used for work.

Shining a light on grey areas

People who drive for work are 40% more likely than other drivers to be involved in a collision, and it is estimated that 1 in 3 road deaths are individuals in a work capacity.

Driving for work is increasingly viewed as a public health issue; a government-led road safety campaign aimed at educating employers wants to tackle the problem. As part of the hard hitting campaign, actors representing various industries give emotional excuses about the circumstances surrounding the death of employees. .

‘She was just picking up a few things for the office,’ goes one emotional plea.

‘If they’re driving for work, they’re at work’

Employers, managers and supervisors must, by law, manage the risk that employees face and create when they drive for work. No boss wants to be responsible for putting their employees at risk, leading to loss of life. However, without proactive measures to ensure that this doesn’t happen the employer could be viewed as negligent in the eyes of the law.

Proactive about employees’ safety

Organisations must adopt a proactive approach to employees’ safety when it comes to driving for work. This can be a paper-based procedure, such as developing a set of rules or guidelines on safety, or it could be transferring the burden of risk around vehicle maintenance to a fleet management services company. Given that less than 50% of Ireland’s 1,465,702 eligible cars failed the National Car Test (NCT) in 2016 - vehicle roadworthiness is still very much hit-or-miss across the nation.